Handbags and similar articles are often used to carry a variety of personal objects. A user owning such an article, however, may occasionally have the need to carry additional items that will not fit within the storage area of the article, or that the user may not desire to place in proximity with the items normally carried within the storage area. These situations force to the user to periodically switch to a larger, more cumbersome bag having additional storage or commit to always using such a bag to be prepared for these circumstances. Additionally, carrying heavy items or a large number of items in, e.g., a handbag can potentially cause damage to fragile or easy altered personal items, especially when such items are in a storage area at or near the bottom of the bag and therefore will bear the weight of the additional items whenever the user sets the bag down. Finally, while users may need additional storage or the ability to protect certain personal items, consumers often desire that the features of handbags and similar articles are still visually and aesthetically pleasing.
It is an object of certain embodiments of the invention to provide apparatuses, articles, and handbags that, amongst other features and advantages, address these objectives. It is an object of certain embodiments of the invention to provide an apparatus including a primary storage cavity, an expandable and collapsible secondary storage cavity, at least one pair of rigid reinforcing structures contained within the secondary storage cavity, and a fastening mechanism configured to fasten the materials defining the secondary storage cavity in a collapsed position. It is an object of certain other embodiments of the invention to provide a handbag having these and other features.